The original St. Patrick's Church in White Lake. The chapel was built in 1840. Thursday, March 14, 2012. The Oakland Press/TIM THOMPSON

Although Oakland County is more than 3,000 miles away from Ireland over the North Atlantic Ocean, many Irish immigrants traveled to White Lake Township during the potato famine.

Upon arrival, pioneer families from Tipperary, Ireland, built an Irish catholic church, appropriately named St. Patrick's Church, in 1840.

And today, on St. Patrick's Day, the current congregation is remembering their roots and the patron saint it was named after.

The church started with only 30 members, but the congregation dramatically increased after the potato famine of 1845 forced thousands of others to the United States. The original church chapel is believed to be the oldest existing catholic church building in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan.

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The Rev. Tom Meagher, who has been pastor of the church for 26 years, said, "The story is that the (immigrants) had a load of lumber coming into the area, and they weren't able to use the lumber. So they built the chapel so they could have a place to worship."

After arriving in America in May of 1834, the church founders Nicholas Doherty, his brothers Edmond and James, William Gorman, his 7-year-old son Patrick, Andrew Dooling and James Crotty decided to come to Michigan because land was selling between 50 cents and $2 per acre. In White Lake Township, the green countryside and numerous lakes reminded the families of home, which is why they decided to stay there. When building the church, Harley Olmstead, the first settler in White Lake Township, offered his team of oxen to help haul materials to the site.

After the congregation outgrew the small structure, they moved to Pontiac, Milford and other areas until the 1940s when a permanent parish was built in White Lake.

At that time, parishioners held services in the church building previously known as St. Scholastica's in Detroit, which was moved to White Lake in five sections and then reassembled on Hutchins Street. The present church was built in 1965 within walking distance of the previous church in order to accommodate the growing congregation.

The small 1840s white church, located right across Union Lake Road from the current St. Patrick's Church on the old trail between Cooley and Oxbow lakes, was dedicated as a historic attraction of the state of Michigan on July 29, 1978 and is still used for Mass twice a year -- on Memorial Day and on Labor Day.

"We want to keep the tradition and keep our roots. I think it's good for our parish to give (members) some indication of our heritage and legacy," Meagher said.

The chapel has survived two fires in 1948, and the damage was repaired.

The building still maintains its original floors, walls, windows and wooden wash benches, which were donated by church members at the time.

The floors are held together with wooden pegs instead of nails. The original walnut altar rail, wooden cross and the hand-carved tabernacle by Morris Murray remain inside the small chapel. And next to the church is a cemetery of St. Patrick's parishioners who died from pre-Civil War times through the 1970s.

Meagher, who grew up in Milford, said, "When I was 9 or 10 years old, I went to Mass here. At that time, the adults would be in the church, and the kids would be outside. We would wait outside and, if you were tall enough, you could look in the windows. (The church) wasn't big enough for all of the people."

A lot has happened since the church began 173 years ago. The congregation has since grown from 30 members to about 3,200 families, and in 1957, a school for preschool through eighth graders was added on to the church with 476 students now enrolled.

In 2002, an eight-classroom expansion was added to the school, which Meagher helped design.

"There are no other parishes in the Archdiocese of Detroit that have such an original memorial still standing that gives witness to the presence of a worshiping Catholic community dating back as far as 1840," said Meagher.

St. Patrick Parish is located at 9086 Hutchins St. at the corner of Union Lake Road in White Lake Township. St. Patrick's Day Mass will be held 8 a.m., 10 a.m. and noon today. Saturday Mass is held at 5 p.m.; weekday services are 8 a.m.; Monday, 7 p.m.; Tuesday, 8 a.m.; Wednesday, 11 a.m.; Thursday and Friday 8:30 a.m. during the school year. For more information, visit stpatrickwhitelake.org.